


Mobius Eclipse of the Heart

by omygatkimchi



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, It's gonna be a bumpy ride, My First LOONA fic, but will give heads up if any are necessary in author's notes!, might change warnings accordingly, this au is really not what you expect... im telling you now, you and me are so loonatic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23492209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omygatkimchi/pseuds/omygatkimchi
Summary: Jung Jinsol is just your ordinary university student living in Seoul with her best friends, Kim Hyunjin and Choi Yerim. Except maybe Jinsol's life isn't quite so ordinary because Yerim is also part of an idol group called Orbital and she may or may not be coworkers with Jinsoul's crush, Kim Lip. Had she mentioned that Kim Lip was her Ult?Excited Yerim wants her friends and coworkers to meet up and bond and what better time to do it then at Lake Cheongpyeong during the Mobius Eclipse Festival? An event rumored to be a crossroad that connects the points of alternate dimensions that only happens every 100 years! Or at least... it's supposed to happen only once every 100 years. Unfortunately, Jinsol finds herself in an icy situation and discovers firsthand that sometimes rumors can be more than true.
Relationships: Jeon Heejin/Kim Hyunjin, Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	Mobius Eclipse of the Heart

Jinsol adjusted her thin-rimmed glasses and licked her lips.

She was just about ready to take a sip of her fresh-outta-the-pot Americano and hit play on a video of “ _9 Amazing ICE Experiments You **HAVE** to Try in This Lifetime” _when the door to her bedroom burst open.

In seconds what had been the start of a relatively peaceful evening was over.

**_“JINSOL-UNNIE!”_**

Yerim screamed as Jinsol yelped.

The former’s voice was in a tone so high pitched Jinsol could have sworn she heard her window crack. Her soul had never evacuated her body so fast in her life.

Oh, and her hand had slipped. So instead of Youtube & Chill, Jinsol got a lapful of hot coffee and what she was sure would be burn marks that would last for days.

The brunette hissed in pain as she carefully moved her computer away from her legs.

Of course, Jinsol had _just_ changed into short shorts. Not that wearing long pants would have helped much, but it would have been more layers rather than direct impact.

Jinsol looked down and inspected the damage on her upper thighs.

Sure enough, reddish marks were starting to form under the splotches of the dripping Americano. Gritting her teeth and puffing up her cheeks to prevent the tears that were brimming in her eyes from falling, Jinsol tried to ignore the faint burning pain.

Yerim seemed to quickly pick up on her discomfort and rushed over.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!!” she stammered frantically, reaching over to grab a box of tissues and immediately dabbing at Jinsol’s thighs. “I should have knocked!”

“No, no, it’s okay. You wouldn’t have known,” Jinsol told her reassuringly.

That didn’t stop Yerim though and the girl continued to apologize even after she’d left the room. From the clattering sounds that arose soon after her departure, Jinsol assumed she went to the kitchen. 

She sighed and adjusted her glasses. She was thankful Hyunjin wasn’t back from basketball practice yet. The other girl would have had a field day if she’d seen what had happened.

“ _Yerimmie_!” Jinsol called out as she placed her half-full mug of coffee onto the side table next to her bed and reached over to grab her stained blanket. Even though she was mildly upset, nothing that Yerim ever did ever truly could make her mad. “I promise that you’re fine!”

She wrinkled her nose when she saw that some coffee had gotten on her sheets too. Jinsol silently cursed to herself.

Just yesterday she’d _finally_ managed to bribe Hyunjin into doing her laundry for her.

_That was some expensive ass bread. Worth **way** more than the two dollars I could have spent if I’d just done it. _Jinsol pouted, tugging her sheets off her bed and tossing them on the floor along with her blanket. She’d just make a pile for now and have to address it later.

Jinsol heard footsteps growing nearer and turned to face the doorway in which Yerim re-appeared. The girl oozed an aura so apologetic, Jinsol couldn't help but hope that her smile eased any lingering worries she had.

Yerim had a heart of gold and it made her a wonderful person, but it also made the brown-haired girl overly empathetic. Yerim was able to pick up on the slightest intonation of sadness in a room full of people; it was almost like she was psychic.

It was kind of scary sometimes.

“I know, I know. It was an accident, but-” Yerim pouted and handed Jinsol a slightly bulky cloth, “It probably really hurt, so you should try to press this on it so hopefully it doesn’t blister up, maybe?”

Jinsol took hold of the cloth and almost dropped it at how cold it was. She unfolded it and almost laughed to herself. Yerim noticed though and looked at her curiously.

“It’s nothing, I was just—” Jinsol nodded her head over at the computer and laughed. “I was about to watch a stupid video about ice experiments and here you are… bringing me ice.”

“Oh?” Yerim piped. “That sounds cool!

Their eyes met and the two chuckled at her unintentional pun. Yerim’s cheery disposition returned once she realized Jinsol wasn’t actually _upset_ with her and that there was no secret hidden tension between them.

While the other girl sighed in relief, Jinsol sat at the edge of her bed and pressed the cool cloth against her thighs. It hurt a little to keep it there for too long so she opted for swapping between her legs to address the respective burns.

“Soo,” Jinsol began, eyes flickering back up to look at Yerim who had aimed her attention at the aforementioned video. “You need something? Not often that you use that spare key I gave you.”

Yerim shot straight up and gasped. It was almost funny, like watching an anime character; the girl’s waved brown hair bounced up with her as she made an almost comical gasping face.

“ _Unnie!_ You are _not_ going to believe what I’m about to tell you!” Yerim squeaked.

Jinsol ran her hand through her bangs. This could end in one of two ways, one of which could be super good… _or…_ Jinsol fought back a grimace at the last time Yerim had popped a surprise on her.

“Is it good or bad?” She hesitantly asked.

Even though they both lived in Seoul, for Yerim to go out of her way and make the trek to her apartment on the other side of the city wasn’t something that happened often. It _had_ to be big. The girl’s next words only assured that.

“It’s **_fabulous_** _! One of a kind,_ you’re going to **_love_** me forever after this _!”_

“Like I already don’t?” Jinsol butted in, smirking at her.

Yerim huffed and placed her hands on her hips. Jinsol merely waved her on to continue. It was good to see that comparing the aura of the room now to before, they were back to regularly scheduled programming.

“So you know how Lippy-Unnie hasn’t been back in the area since she’s been filming that CF in Busan?” Yerim asked, already starting to vibrate in place.

_Oh no_.

Jinsol knew what that meant almost immediately.

Yerim vibrating in place was a harbinger of bad things. If she focused hard enough, Jinsol could already hear birds flying away in warning of what was to come. 

Jinsol herself had already been exposed to enough aftershocks after a 7.5 Yerimquake that she was already mentally bracing herself for the incoming wave of news.

The worst part was that there was no Hyunjin here this time to help her mediate whatever was coming her way.

“ _Well_ , since ‘ _you-know-who_ ’,” Yerim pointed not so discreetly at Jinsol almost as if Jinsol wasn’t aware who she was referring to in the first place “-has such a crush on _you-know-who_ , I asked her when she was getting back in the area!”

Jinsol froze, her eyes widening with realization.

“You _didn’t-_ ”

“ _I **DID**_!” Yerim screamed and rushed over to shake her.

A mixture of feelings flashed through Jinsol. Excitement, elation, but most prominent of all _fear_.

It was easy to forget. _Way_ too easy to forget.

She’d known Yerim for almost half of the time she’d been on this earth. The girl was basically her adopted family.

Even still, as smart as she was, Jinsol’s memory happened to be selective sometimes.

Somehow, between the mundane moments where Yerim would stop by her and Hyunjin’s shared apartment for homework help or to raid their fridge because she was hungry, Jinsol would forget that her friend was in _Orbital._

_Y’know, Orbital_ being one of the, if not _the most_ , famous idol groups in the world. Humble Yerim would deny that they were _that_ popular, but that was mostly in Korea _(...for now_ ).

_ORBITALWORLDDOMINATION2019, but ANYWAYS-_

Yerim had always been so good at separating her normal stuff from her celebrity biz; it had been a bit weird in the beginning when Jinsol had already admitted to lowkey being in love with the person that would soon be her best friend’s co-worker.

“Yerim, no,” Jinsol groaned.

“Yerim, _YES_!!!” The other girl giggled back.

“What’s happening?”

The unexpected third voice had both girls whip around to glance at the doorway.

Catlike as usual, Hyunjin had stealthily slunk her way into their shared room. The girl had a towel around her neck and her long red hair was tied up in a ponytail.

From her still rosy cheeks, Jinsol assumed it’d been a hard workout and that Hyunjin would probably prefer some peace and quiet to wind down. Unfortunately, that had never been a deterrent for Yerim and she immediately rushed over to hook her arm around Hyunjin’s shoulders.

“You made it just in time, Aeongunnie!” Yerim laughed.

“Nice to see you too, Jerry,” Hyunjin nodded and moved out of Yerim’s grip. She walked toward her side of the room and dropped her duffel bag onto the floor.

Hyunjin stretched her arms as far as she could and unceremoniously plopped down onto her bed. Jinsol shot her an apologetic smile which the other girl just shrugged off. It had been a few weeks since they’d seen Yerim.

_‘Let’s just entertain her,_ ’ were the unspoken words reflected in her roommate’s eyes. Tired or not, Hyunjin could also never turn Yerim away.

“So, like I was saying, some of the _Orbital_ members got invited to this show at Lake Cheongpyeong. They’re not all going, but since _you-know-who_ can get tickets,” Yerim pointed at herself continuing her earlier charade of “who else could it be”.

Jinsol had to keep herself from facepalming and instead swerved her hand to scratch her head, the action did not go unnoticed by Hyunjin who snorted in the background.

“I thought it’d be cool for you two to spend time with and meet my other coworkers!!!”

Jinsol turned and looked at the worn poster she had taped on her wall. It was one of the earlier _Orbital_ posters from a few months before Yerim had debuted. The target of her affections stood next to the center. Her fierce brown eyes popped in contrast to her unruly platinum blonde hair.

“Kim Lip’s going to be there, huh?” Jinsol murmured. Her cheeks flushed at the memory of their first encounter.

Needless to say, Yerim had vibrated that day and it was so bad Hyunjin still clowned her about it even now. To make a long story short, the day she’d first met Kim Lip, the idol had gone to bow in greeting, but Jinsol had panicked and whipped her arm around for a handshake so fast she _might_ have accidentally greeted her...with her fist.

_Goddamn, American customs!!!_ She bitterly thought about the years she’d spent in the country. She’d enjoyed the time she’d spent there, but with it leading to _that._

Yeah, definitely, not a great first impression.

“Don’t worry, Unnie! Jungeun-Unnie knows that it wasn’t on purpose. Besides, it happened last year, do you really think she’d remember it _now_?” Yerim asked.

The girl walked up toward her and pouted. A Yerim pout was dangerous; when she pouted whatever Yerim wanted, she usually got.

“She might not, but Jinsol-unnie does,” Hyunjin shot back.

Jinsol glared at her and Hyunjin smiled sweetly. It’s not like she was wrong. She couldn’t be mad if she was right.

“Well, no one’s going to be worrying about who accidentally punched who. Next week is the Mobius Eclipse! It only happens like every 100 years!” Yerim continued.

“Doesn’t it happen like twice this year though?” Hyunjin added nonchalantly.

_Always quick to snark back, that one._ Jinsol looked between the two, biting her lip to hide the amused smile as Yerim glared at Hyunjin.

“ _Yes_ , this year there’s a double instance, but that’s why the event is happening!” She huffed. “It’s lining up with a full moon and the sky is supposed to turn blood red!”

Jinsol grabbed her phone and pulled up her internet browsing app. She’d actually heard some of her classmates discussing the eclipse. Something about it being a planetary alignment connecting the points of different dimensions.

She’d only scrolled for a minute on a Reddit thread about it before she saw someone spouting theories about alternate universes and crossing through timelines. It was then she thought to herself that maybe she’d had enough internet for the day.

“Definitely seems interesting. I’m probably free then,” Jinsol said, furrowing her eyebrows to think of anything that might impede her attending the event, “I had a test today and the eclipse is next Friday, right?”

“Yup! So that means you’re free to go, right Unnie?” Yerim asked.

“I mean, it for sure sounds cool,” Jinsol mused. Having an opportunity to redeem herself around Kim Lip didn’t seem like too much of a bad idea either. “I think I can fit it into my calendar.”

Jinsol turned to smile at Yerim but heard two seconds of SCREEE’ing before she was engulfed in a tight hug.

“You’re going to have so much fun, Unnie! You’re also going to get to meet Chuu-Unnie, Go Won-Unnie, and Olivia Hye!”

In the distance, Jinsol could hear Hyunjin making fake gag sounds. Jinsol tried not to laugh when she saw the look on her roommate’s face.

“Ugh, are the bunny girl and her girlfriend going too?” Hyunjin asked, an underlying tone of disgust thinly veiled in her words.

Yerim loosened her hug just enough to look at Hyunjin and smiled brightly at her.

“Nope!” Her smile faltered for half a second as her eyes moved up thoughtfully. “Well… I’m not sure because they said they were going to hang around Busan for a while to meet up with a friend, but other than that, no?”

“Good enough, I’ll go too,” Hyunjin said, hopping off her bed. She quickly rummaged for her pajamas along with a fresh towel and tossed her used one in the laundry bin before picking it up.

Her eyes landed on the mess at Jinsol’s feet and her eyes narrowed.

“You already got them dirty? I just washed them this morning,” Hyunjin frowned.

Jinsol looked at the soiled sheets on the floor and had to keep from laughing. Right, how could she have forgotten the _ORIGIN_ of this encounter. Especially when the burn on her leg decided to ache again. She pressed the clothed ice against her leg, shuddering as the cool melting liquid ran down her leg.

“It wasn’t her fault, Unnie!” Yerim pouted and protectively hugged Jinsol. Yerim knew as well as Jinsol that Hyunjin didn’t like doing more chores than she had to. This was almost on par as desecrating her time off. “I scared her and she got Americano on everything.”

“Gotcha,” Hyunjin said softly, eyes lingering on the cloth Jinsol was pressing on her legs. The look in her eyes was undecipherable, but honestly, no one ever really knew what was going on in Hyunjin’s mind.

The redhead walked over to the two of them, quietly grabbed the dirty cloth and walked past them. “That bread was good, so I’ll take it as two laundry tickets.”

Hyunjin flashed them a quick smile and absconded. Jinsol and Yerim both stood there befuddled as they watched her retreating back.

**Eight** or seven gotta do math if JS is 22 haha years.** The three had been friends for SIX years and still, neither of them could quite get their minds wrapped around the enigma that was Kim Hyunjin.

“That was sweet,” Yerim said softly.

Jinsol’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Yerim loosened her hold on her and sighed contentedly.

“She was making sure Heejin wouldn’t be there after she almost beat you up last year, remember?”

Heejin... beating her up? Jinsol frowned, lips pursing as she tried to remember what they were talking abo- _oh_.

Her eyes flickered over to her _Orbital_ poster once more except this time to meet the piercing eyes of the group’s center.

Jeon Heejin, _Orbital’s_ first girl, aka the girl who’s best friend/mentor that she had accidentally sucker-punched on their first encounter.

Heejin was shorter than Jinsol, that was for sure, but it’d taken three of the other members to hold her back even after everyone had told her it was an accident. Somehow she’d managed to wiggle her way out of their grip and then it had only been because of Hyunjin’s innate cat sense that the lunge that had been coming her way was blocked.

She could still remember the group maknae’s deep-ass voice shouting “ ** _BUSTED!!!_** ” before Yeojin dropped to the ground writhing in laughter at the sight before her.

To an outside perspective, it would have seemed like Hyunjin was awkwardly hugging Heejin. _Orbital’s_ center had her right arm awkwardly jutting out in the weird half-hug. Jinsol didn’t even have to look at Hyunjin’s face to know she was _pissed_.

All it took was Hyunjin glaring at her and re-iterating one final time that it had been an accident for Heejin to grow quiet. The shorter girl’s eyes had widened like a deer in headlights with what seemed to be a rosy hue creeping onto her cheeks.

It would have been cute if Heejin hadn’t had tried to murder her moments prior.

There had been maybe a maximum of two minutes of peace before the group’s main rapper had approached the group. Shin Ryujin had almost started World War Three at the sight of what she thought had been Hyunjin manhandling the other girl.

Oof, now explaining _that_ had been a time.

Jinsol nearly facepalmed at the memory. Everything about her first encounter with Kim Lip had been an absolute disaster. At least a 6.5 on the Yerichter scale.

“You’re right. How could I forget _that_.” Jinsol wrapped her arms around herself protectively and rubbed them as a chill ran through her body. “God, I used to have nightmares that she’d see me at a fan sign and shank me in the back or something.”

“Heejin-Unnie isn’t mean!!! She was just protecting Lippy-Unnie’s honor since you _did_ sock her in the moneymaker!” Yerim dropped to the floor and held her hands up toward the air before dramatically adding, “You almost robbed a young woman of her dreams that day! For shame, Jung Jinsol-ssi.”

An accusing finger was pointed her way, but the girl couldn’t stay fake angry for long before her bubbly character pierced through.

“It was an accident, I said!!!” Jinsol screamed and began shaking a now uncontrollably giggling Yerim.

Her laughing friend tugged her arm and Jinsol collapsed onto the floor beside her. The two of them continued to laugh at the ridiculous memory.

“God, we’re a mess aren’t we?” Yerim said after a while, bursts of laughter still escaping her lips.

Jinsol forced herself to stop and looked over at her. “Well, that’s how us three musketeers stick together though, right? You, me, and Hyun? We’re a bunch of misfits finding our way around this cray-cray world!”

Yerim smirked at her and gently nudged her in the ribs with her elbow. She sat herself up and looked toward the balcony. In milliseconds, Jinsol saw what would possibly be the fastest shift of Yerim’s smile she’d ever seen in her life.

It had dropped for half a second and then the initial warmth no longer quite reached her eyes.

Jinsol frowned, pushing herself up with her elbow so she could reach out to give her friend a light shake on her shoulder.

“Yerim?”

The other girl got up wordlessly and approached the sliding glass door. She didn’t make a sound as she silently slid it open so she could step out. Confused, Jinsol stood up and followed after her.

A smile no longer on her face, Yerim was staring intensely at something in the sky. Jinsol’s eyes roamed to where her friend was looking. She couldn’t help the soft gasp that escaped her lips.

The moon shone brightly in the sky, brimming in shining light as it normally did, but something was off? Jinsol adjusted her glasses and looked again. What she was seeing just made no sense?

_Yesterday it was a crescent moon? How’s it that today it’s_ _—_ Yerim spoke up then almost as if reading her thoughts.

“It’s a full moon.”

Yerim’s voice had said the words so softly that Jinsol wouldn’t have heard her if it wasn’t so damned quiet out.

“That’s not supposed to be until next week though, right?” Jinsol asked her incredulously.

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of Jinsol’s stomach when a serious look crossed Yerim’s features. Yerim _rarely_ frowned. Like _actually_ frowned. The girl would pout and fake frown, but seeing her friend’s eyes this grim with no trace of a smile at all was… spooky.

She almost wanted to snap a picture and send it to Hyunjin, but it just felt _wrong_. Something was definitely off.

Jinsol uncomfortably wiggled in place, this whole situation was giving her the heebiejeebies. She only felt some sense of calm after Yerim finally answered.

“If there was supposed to be a full moon today, Unnie. Trust me, I’d know.”

_Well, that’s not a very comforting answer._ Jinsol thought as she fiddled with the hem of her long sleeve shirt, eyes peering back up at the unusual sight.

There was something more off about the moon though or at least with the star glowing next to it? Or was that the sun?

Jinsol pressed her glasses a bit closer to her eyes and squinted a bit.

Or was it a planet? She’d never seen one this prominently red without a telescope.

It unnerved her that Yerim remained deathly silent. A look down at the girl’s hands on the railing and she could see that they were gripping the railing so hard that her knuckles were white.

The worry in her gut only further increasing, Jinsol called out to her friend again.

“Yerimmie?”

The girl blinked twice, almost as if she’d forgotten she was there and blushed. She ran a hand through her brown hair and sheepishly smiled.

“Sorry, haha. It’s just so weird! Never seen anything like it before, nope...” Yerim trailed off, eyes glancing back at the sky.

Maybe Jinsol’s eyes were bugging or maybe it was the weird light coming from the two moons, but was Yerim’s eye glowing? A bright purple crescent moon shone in her right eye.

“Are you wearing some kind of glow in the dark contacts, Yerim? It’s actually pretty cool, not gonna lie,” she noted.

Yerim’s back went rigid almost immediately and her eyes widened in shock. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could her phone went off.

She quickly grabbed it and turned away from Jinsol. Whoever it was on the other line sounded frantic from the way they were yelling. Yerim silently listened until she finally spoke up.

_Because everything about today is normal, right Jindori?_ Jinsol thought to herself whilst observing her childhood friend.

“Understood, yeah. I’ll meet you there!”

Yerim turned so her left side was facing Jinsol and beamed back at her. The change of personality happened so fast it was almost like she hadn’t been acting as if her cat had died a few minutes ago.

“Emergency meeting, sorry, Unnie! I’ll text you with more details later, okay?”

Yerim stepped back into the apartment, winking at her with her right eye only to dash out of the room the moment she waved.

_What the hell just happened?_ Jinsol scratched the side of her head and looked back up at the sky.

Was it a fucking planet or another moon? It wouldn’t make sense if it was another moon, but the news always hyped up when planets were approaching and she’d seen nothing about that on the news either.

Well, even for her eccentric friend that was odd.

_I can’t believe the moon’s a full circle either, but you don’t see me freaking out._ Jinsol scratched her head.

_We aren’t going crazy though right? It was a crescent moon yesterday._ Jinsol turned to look at the sky and stuck her tongue out at it. She flipped it the bird and decided to check it out more. _Global warming, water ye doing._

Jinsol walked into her apartment and knelt down next to Hyunjin’s bed. The two had bought a telescope a long time ago and she was pretty sure the last time she’d seen it had been when her roommate had stashed it away.

She pulled out the long box from under the bed and removed the telescope, wiping off the layer of dust that had gathered since its last use. She quickly moved back toward the balcony and aimed it up at the sky.

Her eyes flickered upwards at the strange sight, almost as if she was afraid it’d go away. Jinsol licked her lips nervously and adjusted the tripod of the microscope. She only hoped she wouldn’t break the thing, Hyunjin would probably get upset.

Just because they barely used it didn’t mean they hadn’t spent a hundred dollars worth of bread on it. Jinsol had no intention of cutting her life short this early on.

She clicked the lock in place to align the scope and pressed her left eye into the eyepiece. She had to adjust the lens a bit more, but once she got a solid image of the orbs in the sky, she paused. Though there was a lack of wind, the world around her felt like it had gotten chilled by 20 degrees.

In the sky was not two, but three moons. The smallest was blood-red, the largest in the center was purple, and the one on the right was…

_Blue._

At that instant Jinsol’s left eye began to sting. She flinched away from the microscope and brought her hand up to her face. God, maybe she’d spent too much time looking at her phone and the moon technically did reflect light from the sun.

Though this pain was different than the few times she’d stared into the sun (and she would know, that shit hurt). Unlike that normal stinging that followed on the rare chance she’d stare at the sun for a little too long, this was a burning pain that seemed to rattle deep in her brain.

Jinsol grabbed onto the railing of the balcony. Her right eye was starting to water and her vision was starting to blur.

_What the fuck is happening???_

Jinsol gasped, hand slipping from the rail as her knees buckled underneath her. God, it hurt so bad. The only respite she got was when she finally closed both eyes.

Then suddenly, it didn’t hurt anymore.

She was just cold.

Too cold.

Her eyes opened again and she wasn’t on her balcony anymore. Hell, she didn’t know where she was. That is if she was anywhere at all.

Her surroundings were pitch black. The only semblance of light she could see came from some sort of water fixture to the far right.

Jinsol tucked her hands into her long sleeves and tugged her short shorts down as much as she could to try to cover up as much of her exposed body as possible. In this mysterious environment, with no source of heat, she’d need to preserve as much as she could.

The brunette decided that her best bet was to go toward the light because, well, it’s not like she had anywhere else to go. It was only when she realized her socks were growing damp that the splashing sounds were coming from beneath her. The floor was covered in water.

“Well, that’s great. Exactly what I fucking need,” she muttered to herself, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering. Somehow in this extreme darkness, she could see her own breath. “Weird-ass dream. Making me feel like I’m in a horror movie or something.”

Jinsol quickly grew relieved to see that there was a black divider between the water she was treading in and the concrete floor in front of her. She stepped over onto the other side and walked on.

A rush of warmth surged through her and Jinsol moaned in relief. She quickly caught herself when she realized something felt different. The sleeves that she had used to cover her hands were gone. Jinsol frowned and looked down only to find that her clothes had changed too.

She was wearing a white button-down with a neatly tied blue ribbon and a matching pleated skirt. The outfit was cute, yeah — maybe, if she was still in _high school_.

“Just keep swimming, Dory. Keep swimming,” Jinsol told herself.

Pressing on was her only other option. She didn’t want to have to stand around in the container of water and standing around wouldn’t solve anything either.

Though as she got closer to the glowing fixture, Jinsol paused. It wasn’t water she’d been seeing, or at least it wasn’t all completely water?

There were definitely water droplets suspended in the air, but the most haunting sight of all was the girl floating amongst it. Her long blonde wavy hair billowed out around her whilst the dress she wore fluttered as if she _was_ suspended in water. 

It was beautiful in a way that also struck terror in Jinsol’s chest. The girl’s eyes were closed, her skin was pale and her curved lips were tinged blue. Her features looked oddly familiar.

For a second Jinsol felt like _she_ was the one drowning. There was a part deep inside her wanted to help the girl, to drag her out of the water so she’d be free from the slumber she seemed to be in, but when she was about to a voice hissed out.

“ _Don’t touch her._ ”

Jinsol whirled around in fear. She’d been alone from the moment she got here and when she looked around she was still alone. A soft synthesizer had started to play in the background. The sound garbled by the flow of the water.

ṋ̷̽ỉ̷̧a̷͈̔r̴͉͠ ̴̼̽n̴̝͂ï̸͓ ̵̳̊ē̵̱h̶̫͂t̷͘͜ ̸̠͒g̷̛͎n̸̘̕i̴͙͛g̸̡̉n̸̞̅i̶͚̽S̵̱̓

This was getting a tad freaky for her. Jinsol knocked on her head a bit.

“Okay, brain. It was funny for a few minutes, you can wake up now,” she nervously laughed.

As expected, there was no response.

Jinsol swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and stepped away from the girl. She didn’t want to look away, but she also didn’t want to stay here. It didn’t help the nagging feeling in the back of her head that if she moved the girl would suddenly wake up and chase her down like in that one scary Korean Webtoon.

“Just keep going, Jindori. Just keep going,” she repeated to herself, mustering up her nerves as she walked on.

The further she moved from the girl, the louder the synthesizer got. Jinsol rubbed her arms and brought them closer within herself. If this was a dream, it was definitely one of her weirdest ones yet.

“Wake up, Soullie,” she told herself. “ _Wake uuup.”_

She paused again when an orb of light flashed beside her. It was a blinding white light, but she could _feel_ the warmth radiating off of it. The comfort she so desperately craved having been in this freezing abyss for god knows how long it’d been.

Jinsol reached out and touched the orb in front of her.

The world around her seemed to suddenly suck in as if she was a black hole. For a few seconds, she felt like she couldn’t breathe, her body was almost tightening in on itself.

So much so that when she finally felt her body uncoil after feeling herself be tugged upward, she gasped and jolted up from the position she’d been laying in.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of her surroundings, she felt her pulse at least begin to slow a little when she realized she came to the realization that she wasn’t in that void anymore.

That was until she felt movement from the right side of her bed. Every cell in her body froze, too afraid to move and see what was next to her.

There was a sharp click and the room was bathed in a warm orangey light. Jinsol frowned as she took in the unfamiliar surroundings. Staring back at her from on top of a mahogany dresser was a cute alarm clock in the shape of an owl.

“What the f _u-_ ,” she began to whisper out loud to herself, but immediately clammed up when a hand was placed on her right forearm.

_What the fuck. What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK._

“If this is your idea of a prank, you’ve got another thing coming, Kim Hy-” Jinsol turned to face the person beside her.

That was _not_ Kim Hyunjin and that sure hell was _not_ Choi Yerim either.

The brunette beside her groaned and rubbed at her eyes sleepily. The woman’s cheekbones were so prominent Jinsol had a weird urge to reach over and caress them with her thumb.

“A prank? Did you have a nightmare again, babe?” she asked, sleep still prominent in her voice.

_Babe? BABE??? This attractive WOMAN is calling ME babe?!_ Jinsol couldn’t even talk. The more she looked at the woman lying next to her, the more she felt her cheeks flush.

When did she even have the time to leave her apartment and hook up with someone? Maybe Hyunjin _was_ right about that theory of the full moon making people go crazy.

Wait, was that lady also speaking to her in _English?_ What kind of hot foreigner had she stumbled upon?

“Uh, no. I just, we-” Jinsol rambled on trying to find the proper words to articulate _something_ in either language and failing to do so in either. Instead, she stumbled out of the bed and looked around for her clothes. She didn’t see any and saw that she was wearing pajama shorts and a t-shirt. What she did spot was her phone on the nightstand and she snatched it up just as fast.

They’d probably hooked up? It would definitely be better if she didn’t stay the night.

“I just gotta get home and then, I-”

That made the woman frown. Something about that frown made Jinsol feel like she’d said something wrong.

“Home?” the woman got up from the bed and walked toward her, concern starting to seep into her voice. “Jinsol, you _are_ home.”

_No, I clearly am not because I don’t know who you are even though you’re super beautiful and OI, where is. THE DOOR_.

Jinsol hoped the fear she was feeling didn’t sneak into her eyes. Momentary confusion crept into her head as the older woman’s words sank in.

_Wait, how does she know my name? Would I tell a one night stand that?_

This was getting weird. Way too weird. Either she’d blacked out and missed part of her life or-

_How the fuck did I even have a one night stand when I’ve never even slept with any- This is not the time to think about this Jinsol! Snap out of it!_

Jinsol turned her head to the left and saw what she’d been looking for —

_The door!_

She lunged for it and sprinted out of the room and wait, fuck, she had no idea where she was. A quick glance of the area around her and she saw stairs.

Stairs had to lead _somewhere_ , right?

“Jinsol?!” The woman called after her, the level of worry in her voice only seemed to amplify, but Jinsol had no time to concern herself with that. She had to get the hell outta here.

_Nope. Nope. NOPE. FUCK MY CLOTHES. We YEETIN’ boys._

Jinsol turned the moment she ran down the stairs and found her next obstacle. Now, where the hell was the front door? Fortunately, her eyes had started to adjust to her surroundings and she sort of looked in awe at the beautifully decorated home.

From the neatly arranged furniture to the layout of the living room she’d just passed, she could tell that the owners had a high-class joint. How the hell did she manage to end up here?

The sound of footsteps on the stairs reminded her that she was not yet free of her predicament. Jinsol decided to away from the living room and instead head down the hall where she could see light in the distance.

She soon neared what seemed to be a giant sliding glass door. As she got closer, she was able to see what lay beyond the glass panels. The house seemed to be adjacent to a beach.

_What the hell did I do last night?_ Jinsol wondered to herself and reached out to grab the handle.

It was as she gripped it that she saw something silver glint in the dark.

There was something on her left hand. On her ring finger.

Jinsol looked at her hand and then at her surroundings again. Was this her home? She would remember if she’d gotten married… right?

“Alexa turn on the lights!” She heard a voice call out in the distance.

It was in the instant that the lights turned on that Jinsol caught sight of a set of pictures displayed on a nearby shelf.

In the first one, Jinsol saw the brunette she’d seen upstairs standing alongside a teenage girl and another woman. Nothing unusual, just a cute family photo with the girl, who she assumed to be their daughter, smiling brightly with her arms hooked around the two’s necks.

They were such a cute family. A pang of guilt flooded Jinsol’s stomach as she put the puzzle pieces together of what could have transpired the previous night.

Was she homewrecking? Because she honestly had not known and she was not the kind of person who messed with relationships like that.

The guilt only intensified when she looked at the next photo. The young girl was the poor girl who’s parent’s marriage she might have just ruined. The girl who, at a second glance, oddly reminded Jinsol of Yerim. She didn’t let herself linger on that long though and chose to let her eyes roam to the last picture.

Out of the three pictures on the shelf, it was certainly the last one that took the cake.

It was almost like the wind had gotten knocked out of her lungs.

Jinsol picked it up and stared down at it. Was that her face staring back at her? And was that THE Kim Lip next to her giving her heart eyes???

This _had_ to be some sort of elaborate prank by Hyunjin. There was just no way.

Jinsol could recognize Kim Lip’s beautiful face from anywhere, but why the hell was this picture here? The two of them weren’t close at all.

Jinsol would have admired the well-photoshopped image longer if she didn’t hear a foreign voice call out and remind her that she was supposed to be in the middle of escaping this beautiful home.

“Mom, why are the lights on? Is everything okay???”

Jinsol hastily put the picture back and turned back toward the glass door. The older woman spoke again and Jinsol felt that guilt again at causing all this drama.

“Yes, Choerry, everything is fine. Go back to sleep!”

Jinsol took that as her cue to leave and unlocked the glass door so she could slide it open. An alarm began to blare and she cursed to herself. The younger voice called out again, except this time more frantic.

“Moms?!”

_Jesus fuck._ Jinsol ran out of the house and onto the sand. She halted almost immediately; it was _way_ too warm to be winter especially if she was by the beach.

Without further hesitation, Jinsol made her way to the water’s edge. There seemed to be enough light pollution that was able to see her surroundings well enough. She turned to look at the house she’d just escaped from and blinked twice.

The Mediterranean style home was one she’d grown used to seeing in America. She whipped her phone out of her pocket and quickly pulled up the maps.

Was she in _California?!_

Her mouth ran dry when the little cursor on the map app zoomed out to pinpoint her location on Playa Del Rey. How the hell did she get from Korea to California?

Jinsol turned back to face what she presumed to be the Pacific ocean and looked back up at the sky. The moon was full. She didn’t have to squint this time to spot the other two moons again.

The almost quiet crunch of footsteps behind her alerted her to the presence of the home’s inhabitants. Jinsol opened up her phone camera and turned it so it was facing her.

Her face, only ten years older, peered back at her. Well, at least she still looked good with she mused to herself and chuckled.

“Mommy?”

_Sorry, kid. I’m not your mom, but I’m assuming I’m in her.. Body? This dream is getting annoying I just wanna go home._

Jinsol turned to look back at the two people standing behind her. If that really was Kim Lip in ten years, then she was going to be even more beautiful than she already was.

Her eyes roamed over to the younger girl, her hair was dyed pink, but that was definitely Yerim’s face peeking back at her from behind her mom’s arm.

There was a sudden pain in her left eye again. Jinsol pressed her hand against it and smiled to herself.

_So we’re doing this again, huh?_

“I’m sorry, I’ve gotta go now,” Jinsol said to them.

Her knee gave in first before she fell facefirst into the sand.

Except when she landed, she didn’t hit the sand as she had expected but splashed face-first into water. Jinsol lifted her head and spit out the water that had gotten into her mouth.

She was back in the void again and that damned synthesizer was back. That meant this stupid dream wasn’t over yet.

Jinsol got up from the pool of water and shook her arms to get off the excess. Looking down, she saw her outfit had changed again. A skintight top that connected to a choker around her neck with black shorts.

She peered over at where she assumed she’d been before and in the distance could see where the floating girl had been last time.

“Nope, not doing that again,” she muttered and decided to walk the other way.

Though garbled, the synthesizer resonating in the void sounded clearer on this side.

Š̴̰͇̓̓i̵͈̥͈͗̃N̵̥̰͙̈̌g̵͓͜͝Ḯ̵̛̗͍̗̕ň̸͇͚̇G̸̞̬̈ ̵͍͙̔̃I̷͙̮̜̽̑̎ņ̴͖́͊ ̵̜̽̚͝T̷͇͛h̵͔͗E̸͕̪̟ ̶̙̻͎̈́̑̈́r̶̼͎̤̋̓A̷̼͔i̴͔͉̦̿Ń̶͍́͑

Jinsol stepped out of the water container once more and sighed. That warmth resurged through her and when she peered down her clothes were white.

A white crop top and white shorts. The style of clothes was cute, but honestly didn’t help her predicament much. Jinsol bit her bottom lip nervously.

She took a step forward and watched in awe as two beams of light flew past her. The two light poles stabilized around her. Jinsol quickly noted that they seemed to only move forward when she did so.

“Gotta admit, brain. Of all the dreams we’ve had this is the trippiest!” she shouted to no one in particular.

At least she wasn’t cold anymore and the water she’d fallen into seemed to have evaporated the moment she’d gotten out of it.

Jinsol kept walking ahead. It was almost as if the poles were guiding her, telling her to keep moving forward. She paused when she reached a closed door.

After the odd dream she had just had, another inception nightmare couldn’t be that bad...right?

She turned the door handle and walked in.

This time she was ready for the squeezing pressure that seemed to almost pinch her body together.

When she finally got her bearings, Jinsol lowered her hand from her throbbing head and grimaced. Her hand gripped the railing to her right and she became aware that she was sitting on a bench. The cold winter wind nipped at her nose; she began shivering almost as fast as she’d come to.

At least she was wearing winter gear. She tugged the scarf she had on underneath and used it to cover her neck. Jinsol then zipped the jacket up the highest it could go and took a look at the area around her. The advertisements and signs in the vicinity looked familiar enough that she exhaled in relief.

She was back in _Seoul_.

“Yes, a victory!” She threw her head back and let herself laugh.

Though she had no idea how she’d gotten on a bench outside of her apartment, at least she wasn’t in California with a wife and kid.

_Was that my family though? Because if that was my future family then, boym is oldSol a lucky woman_. Jinsol hummed to herself happily and closed her eyes.

“Oh, there you are. What’re you doing out here? We’ve been looking for you for the past hour.”

Jinsol opened her eyes and her smile froze on her face. The girl was looking down at her, but even upside down and from this angle, she immediately recognized the person standing above her.

She jolted forward and nearly fell off the bench.

Kim Lip, beautiful blonde Kim Lip, had come to fetch her in this cold, chilly weather to take her home to warm her up; it was almost like a dream come true.

Wait, she was still dreaming, wasn’t she?

Jinsol pinched her cheek and tugged at it. It hurt, but she’d also had plenty of dreams where it hurt even though it wasn’t supposed to so what gives!

A peculiar observation arose when it sank in that the other girl’s hair was blonde. From the pictures she’d seen from recent fansites, the girl’s hair had been brown since at least a week after they’d met. Something about the other girl’s scalp starting to hurt from the bleaching.

Yet Kim Lip was clearly still platinum blonde?

_Huh? Did she bleach it again or something?_

“Wipe that weird look off your face, you’re creeping me out,” Kim Lip said, Jinsol was caught off guard by the coldness in her voice.

She then felt her face flush. Was she always just going to have awkward encounters with her Ult?

Jinsol stood up from the bench and pulled her phone out of her pocket again to check her location. When the device’s screen lit up, she was met with a selca of herself with a purple-haired Yerim as her lock screen. The most astonishing thing though was that her own hair was platinum blonde.

She hadn’t been blonde since she’d returned from California seven years***** ago?

Jinsol frowned and quickly pulled up the map again. She was relieved to discover that she was in fact in Seoul, South Korea, but mayhaps she was going too slow for the other girl because Kim Lip decided to speak again.

“Are we going to stand out here forever or are we heading back in, Unnie?” Jinsol noticed the other girl was shivering. She frowned and unwrapped the scarf she had around her neck.

Kim Lip watched in confusion as Jinsol reached over and draped it around her neck.

“W-what are you _doing?_ ” Kim Lip asked, flabbergasted.

“You’re cold? You came to get me out here so…” Jinsol trailed off and tucked the scarf into the other girl’s jacket.

Kim Lip huffed, but Jinsol didn’t miss the light blush on her cheeks. The sight made her smile.

“Whatever, we have to get in as soon as possible. They were about to order dinner, but then you disappeared. I already texted them to let them know I found you,” the shorter girl told her.

Jinsol frowned.

_We?_

She pursed her lips and watched as Kim Lip started walking away. Well, at least this time she didn’t wake up to a fantasy of a theoretical family. Jinsol shrugged and decided to follow her.

Whether this was a dream or if she had blacked out or not, Seoul at least relatively looked the same? She was so busy looking around at her surroundings that she didn’t notice Kim Lip had stopped walking.

They collided as the girl had pulled out her wallet. A card cluttered to the floor, but the girl turned around just as fast to shoot her a sharp glare.

“I swear, if I knew it’d been this annoying to sneak you back in, I would have just left you out here,” Kim Lip hissed.

While taken aback by the animosity, Jinsol watched the shorter girl in awe. This side of Kim Lip was kind of intimidating, yet it was also.. kind of hot? Jinsol looked up at the tall building they’d stopped at.

It looked like an apartment complex. A glance at the sign of occupants listed and a familiar one caught her eye.

[ **BLOCKBERRY CREATIVE]**

_Wait, but isn’t that the company that Orbital works for?_

There was a short beeping sound and the glass door in front of them clicked open. Jinsol followed Kim Lip as she walked in, looking back at the door as it locked after them.

She then decided to scope out their current location. The apartment lobby was well lit, decorated with fancy looking plants and furniture that probably cost more than two month’s rent at Jinsol’s place.

Still following the shorter girl, Jinsol could only look around in awe as the two made their way to a nearby elevator. For an apartment, the elevator was rather high class. The back was exposed glass so she could look at the outside, but the walls were metallic.

Kim Lip punched a combination of buttons before swiping a card into a slot on the side. The elevator beeped and then the doors closed in front of them. Since she’d first gotten her, Kim Lip hadn’t bothered to start any conversation. Instead seemed to be glued to her phone.

It was then Jinsol realized the buzzing she felt in her pocket wasn’t coming from the apartment itself, but her own device. She pulled it out and watched her notifications spike up.

She unlocked her phone and looked at the most recent ones coming from a group chat she seemed to be in.

**[** [🤪](https://emojipedia.org/grinning-face-with-one-large-and-one-small-eye/) **LOON** **△** **TICS** [🤪](https://emojipedia.org/grinning-face-with-one-large-and-one-small-eye/) **\- 99 + MESSAGES]**

**[ Jungiee** [💙](https://emojipedia.org/blue-heart/) **18:50 PM - Well, I found her** [🙄](https://emojipedia.org/face-with-rolling-eyes/) **]**

**[ Haseullie** [🕊️](https://emojipedia.org/dove/) **18:54 PM - OMG???]**

**[ Aeongie** **≧◠ᴥ** **◠≦** **18:54 PM - Aeong]**

**[ Haseullie** [🕊️](https://emojipedia.org/dove/) **18:54 PM - WHERE WAS SHE?!]**

**[ Jungiee** [💙](https://emojipedia.org/blue-heart/) **18:59 PM - About to catch hypothermia in this cold ass weather lol]**

**[Frogbaby** [🐸](https://emojipedia.org/frog/) **19:00 PM - Did u find her frozen or did ur** **👁** **️** [👄](https://emojipedia.org/mouth/) **👁** **️** **turn her to**

**ice? LOLOLOL]**

**[ Jungiee** [💙](https://emojipedia.org/blue-heart/) **19:01 PM - We’re heading back now. Tell Heejin to order the food]**

**[Bb Wolf •** △ **•** **19:01 PM - Don’t kill her unnie…]**

 **[Bb Wolf •** △ **•** **19:02 PM - she owes me** **₩** **10...]**

**[ Heekkie** [🐇](https://emojipedia.org/rabbit/) **19:08 PM - Omg FINALLY!** **😭** **]**

**[ Heekki e**[🐇](https://emojipedia.org/rabbit/) **19:08 PM - I stg I felt like my stomach was about to eat itself**[🥺](https://emojipedia.org/pleading-face/) **]**

The elevator dinged to signify their arrival and Jinsol quickly looked up from her phone. By the way their chat read she could tell they were clearly talking about her, but she’d never seen this group chat before in her life?

And what the hell was a LOON **△** TIC?

“Are you going to go back the way we came or are you coming in?”

How a voice so sarcastic could sound so melodic was a wonder to Jinsol. She didn’t let herself ponder that and instead followed Kim Lip into the complex.

The elevator had opened into a hallway that seemed to connect several rooms. The brightly lit living space was hustling and bustling with activity. To her left, two girls that she immediately recognized as Haseul and Vivi were chatting away in the kitchen.

Jinsol knew her eyes were bugging out and her mouth had run dry in shock. She didn’t have much time to let herself absorb what she was seeing before a gruff voice shouted out.

“Watch out Unnie!” it said and Jinsol just barely dodged a football tossed her way. The offending item slammed into the closing doors of the elevator behind her and unceremoniously dropped to the floor.

The ensuing commotion caught the chatting girls’ attention. If Haseul and Vivi were attractive in pictures and Vlives, it did not do them justice in person.

“Yeojin, how many times have I told you not to toss things in the dorm?” Haseul’s irritated voice called out.

_The_ Im Yeojin scurried past Jinsol and bent down to pick the ball up from the floor beside her feet. She slowly stood up and clung to her sleeve, eyes wide with fear at the repercussions she was going to face.

“Protect me, Jinsol-Unnie. She won’t get as mad since you just came back,” Yeojin pleaded.

“Just listen to her next time and you won’t get in trouble,” Kim Lip frowned, reaching over to take the football from Yeojin’s hands. “I’m confiscating this until after dinner. Where’s Hyejoo? She’s the one who threw it right?”

“I didn’t toss anything, Unnie,” a somewhat apathetic voice called from somewhere to Jinsol’s right. “It slipped from my hand, you see.”

She had barely turned her head to look at the speaker and Jinsol couldn’t help but feel even more star-struck. _The_ Olivia Hye was lounging on a couch; her dark hair was tied up adorably in a loose bun and ah, there was that signature triangle pout.

Jinsol was hit with a double-whammy of shock when she became aware that Go Won was cuddled up against her, laughing at something on an iPad that was way too big for her tiny hands.

“Yeah, well if I see something _accidentally_ slip from your hand again, I’m sure Haseul won’t mind instating a 24-hour electronic ban,” Kim Lip frowned.

Orbital’s leader gasped and everyone’s eyes flickered over to her.

“Oh my god, that actually sounds great? Like, I’ve been meaning to find a way for us to spend more time together and Vivi-unnie agreed that maybe a game night is called for?” Haseul excitedly squeaked, turning to look at the girl beside her.

Vivi smiled back endearingly. There was such a warm look in their eyes, Jinsol almost aww’d out loud because seeing this kind of content was _so_ much better in person.

_They act like they do during Lives. Aaaah..._ Jinsol’s internal fangirling was cut off as Yeojin’s voice boomed from beside her.

“Good games need electricity, Unnie,” Yeojin scoffed.

“Not all of them, Yeojin,” Haseul smirked.

Jinsol didn’t need to look back at Olivia and Yeojin to know that their faces reflected some form of internal panic right then.

“What, are you going to make us play Cards against Humanity or something?” Yeojin asked, her voice a bit nervous, almost as if she was testing the waters.

“Vivi hasn’t ever finished a game of Monopoly before so I was thinking we could do that!” Haseul eagerly replied.

“ _No_!” Yeojin and Olivia groaned at the same time.

“This is your fault Hyejoo-Unnie! If only you’d thrown it when I counted to 3! Not 3.5 but 3!”

“Well, _maybe_ if you knew that there’s always a half pause after a countdown, you would have caught the throw,” Hyejoo huffed back.

The two burst into a series of bickering. Jinsol caught Go Won rolling her eyes before returning her attention to her iPad.

This was insane. Counting Vivi, Haseul, Olivia Hye, Gowon, Yeojin, and (bless her heart) Kim Lip, that only left four members of _Orbital_ unaccounted for.

When were Chuu, Yves, Heejin, and Ryujin going to show their faces?

_Especially the last two. Maybe I should just say this was all a misunderstanding and leave._

“Oh, there you are Jinsol-unnie! We were looking for you!” A deep voice bellowed out.

Jinsol frowned. From what she remembered none of the members in _Orbital_ had a register that low?

She turned around, found herself looking down into the eyes of one of the two girls she had wanted to avoid seeing: Jeon Heejin.

Jinsol had to bite her lip so hard to keep from screaming like the woman in that “why are you running” video that she could taste metal. It took every ounce of willpower to not grab onto Kim Lip’s arm and use her as a human shield.

“O-oh?” Jinsol asked nervously.

She searched the girl’s eyes for any remnants of dislike or hatred from their first encounter but found only warmth and adoration instead.

_Wait, what?_

“Yeah, you told me that you’d text me the name of that Thai place so I could order when you went out to ‘meditate’,” she continued, laughing as she made air quotes around the last word.

“Haha, _right_. I definitely said _that_!” Jinsol laughed, she had to pinch her hand to keep herself from dissolving into hysterics.

Luckily, another girl bound up next to Heejin and Jinsol found herself terribly glad to see a familiar face.

“Jerry’s missing, Heekkie,” Hyunjin said, her voice was so light and airy and yet also the most normal thing Jinsol had heard since this dream had started. She almost cried.

“Her too? Did she at least tell you what she wanted before she left?” Heejin asked, bringing up her hand to her face and pinching her nose.

“Nope,” Hyunjin smiled and Heejin audibly groaned.

Well, this was an interesting dynamic. Jinsol eyed Hyunjin curiously. In the conversation they’d had earlier ( How long had she even been asleep anyways?), the girl had shown clear visible disgust with Heejin.

Yet here they were acting amicably? And was Hyunjin’s hair black again? She’d _just_ dyed it red last week.

_Okay, so without a doubt, this is definitely still a 1000% dream then. But WHY._

“Are you going to stand by the doorway forever, or move, Unnie?” Kim Lip called out to her.

Jinsol hadn't even realized the blonde had left her side and was perched at the counter with Haseul and Vivi.

“Why do you look so confused, Unnie?” Heejin asked.

“I, uh-“ Jinsol started, but was cut off by the other people entering the room.

“When _isn’t_ she confused!” A new voice piped in and there was a foreign high pitched giggle that followed.

Yves, beautiful and magnificent as she was on stage, had strolled in. The brunette flipped her long brown hair and shot her a wink. Jinsol’s knees would have almost given out if she didn’t immediately grab onto Hyunjin’s arm. The girl that followed after was none other than the Queen of Cute, Chuu, herself.

How could she ever bless her subconscious for letting her have a dream as wondrous as this?

“You know what they say, healthy scalp. Healthy mind,” Gowon piped up from the couch.

Olivia giggled from beside her and nudged her with her elbow.

“Then yours is going next, Unnie,” Yeojin teased.

The maknae shut her mouth at the death glare she got from the small girl. Even Jinsol felt herself freeze up at its intensity.

_If looks could kill..._

“Heejin, didja order yet? I changed my mind, I want noodles today,” Yves said. She plopped down onto the couch across from where Olivia and Gowon sat.

“You guys still didn’t order yet?” Chuu pouted and made a rubbing motion on her stomach. She took a seat on Yves’ lap and cutely pouted. “Now you’re just being home of phobic!”

“Yeah, in this home, growing girls need food!” Yeojin shouted.

“What growth? You’re gonna be a small lentil bean forever,” Olivia commented.

A pillow was tossed across the room and mayhem broke out. All Jinsol could do was observe from the sidelines.

Olivia had set up a protective fort around Go Won and was gathering all the small objects she could find to toss. Meanwhile, Chuu had started screaming and using Yves' arm as cover while Yeojin ducked behind the loveseat the two sat on.

Seeming unfazed by what was going down behind her, Heejin poked Jinsol’s shoulder to get her attention.

“Well, we can probably assume what Yerim wanted from what she got last time, but where was the place you wanted to order from?” Heejin shouted over the noise.

Jinsol racked her brains for all the Thai places she knew in Seoul. Honestly, the only one she could recommend was closer to her university campus, but it’d take almost an hour to get here.

“If we haven’t had All about that Thai, they have the best noodles I’ve had in ages. They’re out there, but-“

“Oh yeah! The place that’s like forty minutes away,” Heejin cut her off. “I’ll get to it then. Thanks, Unnie!”

Jinsol watched the shorter girl move to walk away before Heejin paused and looked back. It was then Jinsol realized she was still clinging onto Hyunjin’s arm and that Heejin had started tugging at the other girl’s free one.

“Oh! I’m sorry,” Jinsol stammered and immediately let go.

Hyunjin looked at her quizzically. It was nice to see that at least her best friend being unreadable hadn’t changed.

“What’re you going to do now, Unnie?” Hyunjin asked.

That was a good question. What was she going to do? It’s not like she could properly explore. She didn’t even know why she was in these dorms with the _Orbital_ members _,_ but did dreams ever make sense?

Jinsol bit her lip and ran a hand through her hair. The flash of blonde made her freeze up. Was that _hers?_

“Go to my room..?” She said to herself. She had to find a mirror somewhere private because gawking at herself in public wouldn’t look good.

Jinsol removed her grip on Hyunjin and moved to walk past the two girls. The haunting epiphany that she had no idea where she was quickly dawned on her as she took a step forward.

“I actually need to grab something from there too. I’ll go with you, unnie,” Hyunjin said in her soft voice.

Jinsol thanked whatever God existed out there for giving her reprieve and she followed the brunette into the hall past the living room. It looked like Yves and Chuu had joined in on the fight and were tossing all the light materials they could find.

“Ow! Was that a slipper?!” Jinsol heard Olivia scream.

“All’s fair in love and war, Hyejoo!” Chuu shouted back.

Go Won was screeching that they’d made her lose the Bandori Perfect score she’d been trying to get while Yves cackled along. Having long since grown bored of the scenario, Yeojin had gone over to bother the girls chatting in the kitchen.

Just what kind of members did _Orbital_ really have, Jinsol wondered. They seemed wild during fansigns, but this…? This was high tier crackhead culture.

Upon their arrival in the room, which had been the first door on the left at the end of the hall, Hyunjin shut the door behind them and Jinsol took in the sight in front of her.

There were two sets of bunk beds. The living area around them was littered with each girl’s personal belongings. A fallen penguin plushie lay at the foot of one of the beds and there were stickers of the members stuck onto the bedpost to her left.

Jinsol looked at the lower bunk to her left and spotted a familiar Judy plush. The tiny Zootoopia stuffed animal she’d won at a claw machine also sat nuzzled against her pillow back home. Looking at the blue sheets and decorations, she smiled fondly at the image of this home away from home. This was most definitely her bunk.

Jinsol sighed, removing her phone from her jacket and placing it in her pocket. She unzipped the bulky coat and neatly folded it up before placing it on a nearby chair.

She grabbed the Judy plushie and flopped down onto her bed. She was exhausted from the odd dreams she’d had, the faster this one ended the better.

“Tired?” Hyunjin asked her.

“Wouldn’t you know it,” Jinsol grumbled sarcastically, hugging the plushie in her arms tight.

“Really?”

Jinsol angled herself over to look at her friend and saw that Hyunjin had taken a seat in the lower bunk across from hers. She couldn’t keep the smile that slid onto her face when she recognized the cat calendar pinned to the wall. She’d given the exact same one to her at the turn of the new year.

So even in this dream world, Hyunjin slept across from her. The thought was sort of comforting. At last her dream self wasn’t alone with these wild girls!

“It’s just been a long day,” Jinsol told her.

Hyunjin laughed at that, probably a lot harder than she should have. Jinsol scrunched up her eyebrows and frowned, had she said something wrong?

“A long day, Unnie?” Hyunjin continued laughing, raising her hand to wipe a loose tear that had started to roll down her cheek. “You’ve been in bed all day. What could you possibly be tired from?”

_And I, oop-_ Jinsol sucked in her lips and looked away. What was she supposed to tell her? Sorry, there was a weird moon outside, Yerim dipped the first chance she could, and also your hair is supposed to be red?

“I understand, learning the new choreo is a little tiring,” Hyunjin continued, having finally calmed herself enough from her laughing fit.

The words slipped out before Jinsol had a chance to think twice.

“New choreo?”

Her eyes met Hyunjin’s. The other girl was staring at her quizzically, but Jinsol was more curious because was this hinting at an Orbital comeback?

“Yeah…?” Hyunjin picked up, eyes narrowing a bit. The other girl tilted her head and observed her. There was something uncomfortable about the look, almost if the girl was analyzing her.

Jinsol decided humoring her was probably her best bet.

“RIGHT, the choreo! Sorry, I thought you said Delorio, like the car...from Back to the Future,” Jinsol stated, awkwardly. God, she had to bite back her cringe.

“You mean the Delorean?” Hyunjin asked.

“Yes, that too,” Jinsol sat up, squeezing the Zootopia plush a bit tighter and looking around in hopes for any hints to help her continue this conversation. A picture taped to her wall caught her eye almost immediately.

There she was, in all her platinum blonde glory, with her arms around Yerim and Kim Lip. What was with these dreams and making her a lot closer to the girl than they were?

Was she that desperate to be friends with her?

Further examination of the pictures taped to the wall and she saw that she was posing with different members of Orbital in all of them. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She dug it out and looked at the screen.

**[** [🤪](https://emojipedia.org/grinning-face-with-one-large-and-one-small-eye/) **LOON** **△** **TICS** [🤪](https://emojipedia.org/grinning-face-with-one-large-and-one-small-eye/) **\- 1 MESSAGE]**

**[ Heekki e**[🐇](https://emojipedia.org/rabbit/) **19:19 PM - Y’all better be grateful. Food’s comin in thirty!]**

“She finally ordered. It’s about time,” Hyunjin spoke suddenly. Jinsol looked at her and saw the other girl had gone to lie on her back.

Actually, this was probably a good time to snoop on social media and see if she could gather anything else from this insanely detailed universe her mind had created.

Jinsol scoured her phone for twitter and frowned when she saw that for the most part, the device was devoid of most social media apps she normally frequented. She pulled down a search bar and typed in ‘Twitter’.

The icon for the app popped up so it had to be on her phone _somewhere_. Jinsol tapped on it and went to check her timeline. Her twitter username seemed to be the same, but she quickly realized that her account was private.

That and most of the people on twitter seemed to keep mentioning some chick named LOONA? Speaking of, where were her fellow Lunas at?

The gradual scrolling of her timeline showed the numerous _Orbital_ girls. Her timeline was littered with fancams galore along with the occasional fansite pictures.

Jinsol had just scrolled past a platinum blonde girl, but stopped. What if it was a Kim Lip fansite? She swiped her thumb upward and tried to see if she could find it again.

Her mouth went dry at what she saw.

It was her own face staring back at her. Her platinum blonde was waved into a style that Jinsol could probably never achieve on her own without burning herself with a curling iron. The makeup was so immaculately done that it made her look breathtakingly beautiful.

If Jinsol could fall in love with a picture, it would have to be this one.

She was so shook that she tapped on the image and zoomed in to look at it better since her eyes refused to believe what they saw. It was in her intense scrutiny that she noticed something off about the snapshot. Pinching the image closer, she saw the crease of what looked to be a scar under her left eyebrow.

But Jinsol didn’t have a scar there? So this dream version of herself must have bonked her head at some point in her life.

Jinsol zoomed the picture back out and clicked on the fansite that seemed to have posted it. Her jaw dropped in awe at the amount of pictures of herself that seemed to be all over it.

Curiosity got the best of her and she clicked the comments. Her heart pounded with some strange sense of pride at the endearment and praise that people seemed to be giving her.

**JINSOUL LOVE kEI** @Jinsouls_Neck: OMG YES QUEEN, PLEASE SERVE YOUR VISUALS

 **Bri’ing in the Rain** @GrlWithSarang: We don’t deserve. She’s too much for our mortal souls

 **W ⅓** @Orblinky: Have you ever seen a woman so beautiful? No? Gotta look again [🥵](https://emojipedia.org/hot-face/)

 **Sloot for Yves** @YvesCheekMole97 Orbits, say thank you, Jinsoul [💖](https://emojipedia.org/sparkling-heart/)

“Orbit…” Jinsol murmured to herself.

Was that a typo?

She typed Orbital in the search bar, but the suggestions were completely unrelated to what she wanted to see.

_Is Orbital not Orbital in this dream? But why are all the girls here-_ Jinsol ran through the mental tally in her head.

She’d met Heejin, Haseul, Yeojin, Vivi, Kim Lip, Yves, Chuu, Go Won, and Olivia Hye. From what they’d said, Yerim was around somewhere, but where was Ryujin?

“Hey, Hyunjin.”

“Hm?” The other girl hummed in response.

“Where’s Ryujin?”

The silence that followed after was almost deafening. Jinsol peered over at Hyunjin. The girl was looking at her with total confusion on her face.

“Ryujin? As in Shin Ryujin?” She asked.

“Yeah? Who else would I be talking about,” Jinsol told her, confused as to why Hyunjin seemed so lost. Ryujin was Orbital’s main rapper. The girl must be around somewhere too.

“Probably off with the Itzy girls somewhere preparing for debut. I dunno, we haven’t spoken much lately,’ Hyunjin shrugged and returned her attention back to her phone.

_What the fuck is an Itzy?_ Jinsol frowned.

She swapped over to Google and searched up Shin Ryujin. Sure enough, the other girl’s profile popped up…

As a rapper and dancer of Itzy.

_Huh? But wait, Orbital was 11 members. Unless…_ Jinsol stole a glance over at Hyunjin again. For her to be in the dorms with the other _Orbital_ members, they weren’t part of the group in this dream, were they?

Jinsol bit her lip. Fingers hesitantly hovering over the phone’s keyboard as she mustered the courage to search up Hyunjin’s name on Google.

_Just hit enter, Jinsol. It’s not like anything’s gonna happen. It’s just a dream._

She quickly tapped enter and waited for the screen to load. The wait was almost agonizing and her heart was pounding loudly in her ears.

She felt a wave of relief when she found pictures of some man named Hwang Hyunjin from a boy group named Stray Kids all over the search, but, it still didn’t add up.

Jinsol tacked on her friend’s last name and found herself looking at an entirely different search screen.

“Kim Hyunjin is a Lead Dancer, Vocalist, and Visual of the girl group LOONA and the Sub-Unit ⅓. She was revealed as the Second Girl in December 2016 with her solo song _Around You_.”

_Eh?_

The second girl? But Shin Ryujin had been the second girl. Jinsol furrowed her eyebrows. There was that name again.

LOONA.

Jinsol bit her lip and searched up the group on Google. Immediately she was barraged with images of the _Orbital_ girls except the lineup had changed. Shin Ryujin was not in LOONA, but for some reason she and Hyunjin were.

**LOONA** (not _Orbital_ ) is a South Korean girl group formed by Blockberry Creative. Its twelve (not Eleven??) members were revealed in a periodic fashion, corresponding to their Korean name Idarui Sonyeo, which translates to "Girl of the Month". [1]

There was some fear in the pit of Jinsol’s stomach. She was scared to click more and look at the list of members. Though deep down, she already knew the answer to the question in her head.

Was she actually, like, ACTUALLY, a member of LOONA?

“Are you okay, Unnie? You look like you’re constipated.”

Jinsol let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and moved the Judy plushie off to the side. She felt nauseous. Normally after her dreams she’d forget the details, but this one seemed too detailed, too vivid.

She didn’t think she could be around Hyunjin any longer. You’d think that her presence would have stayed comforting but now it felt foreign because this world wasn’t hers. It was all so wrong.

_Let me out, dream. Please just stop._ Jinsol pleaded mentally.

Jinsol knew that she could kiss any semblance of peace away when she saw Hyunjin move from her bed.

_God, please. What do you want from me? To tell you everyday that I Love you?_

“Jinsol-Unnie?”

It was the damned eclipse’s fault. If Yerim hadn’t said anything about it, she wouldn’t be stuck in this nightmare.

_Wait, Yerim. Where is she?_

Jinsol blinked and an image popped into her head. A blonde girl was Singing in the Rain, her school girl outfit was sopping wet as water rained down on her. Jinsol’s stomach almost turned in on itself. She brought her hand up to her mouth and grabbed onto the bedpost.

“Hyunjin, can you tell me something really quickly?” Jinsol asked the girl who resembled her best friend of SIX***** years.

“...Yes,” Hyunjin answered hesitantly.

A growing worry was evident in the other girl’s brown eyes. Jinsol felt a little bad for being the source of it.

“Which girl of the month am I?”

That caught the other girl off guard. “Huh?”

“For the _L_ ove of God, Hyunjin. Please just answer the question,” Jinsol asked her. She felt dizzy and standing still for too long didn’t help. She let her eyes roam the room and caught sight of a poster of Yerim surrounded by _cherries_.

Was it possible for someone to get _motion_ sickness while standing still? This was _new_ to her.

“You’re the seventh girl,” Hyunjin said. She moved closer to Jinsol and peered at her curiously. “Jinsol-unnie… you’re not our Jinsol-unnie, _are you.._?”

Jinsol’s jaw dropped, she knew she probably looked ridiculous but her mouth was an o-shape right then.

“I-I, I think I need some air,” Jinsol said more to herself than to the other girl. Her hands scrambled to reach for the door behind her. Her chest felt tight, was this what it felt like to have a _Heart Attack_?

Her hands grasped the doorknob and she turned it, almost falling forward whilst she moved with the door.

She had to get out of the apartment. She couldn’t stay here any longer. Jinsol walked toward the living room, she’d seen a sliding door there. Maybe it lead to a balcony?

This was her _one and only_ shot, so she was going to take it. On her way towards the living space, she almost collided into the one person she wanted to avoid most.

“Jinsol-Unnie, you’re looking a bit pale, are you okay?”

Kim Lip’s concern was a bit touching, but Jinsol couldn’t deal with it right now. As much as she wished she could be an egoist and wanting to milk the first instance of kindness the other girl had shown her in this dream, if she didn’t move she felt like she would collapse.

Somehow that seemed even worse.

“Yeah, just need some fresh air,” Jinsol chuckled, forcing herself to smile to try to hide her discomfort.

Kim Lip’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, but Jinsol ignored her. Everyone was gathered in the living room and now the balcony seemed ten times harder to get to. Jinsol decided going back the way she came was her best bet.

She ignored the other members' looks as she made her way to the elevator and aggressively jammed on the buttons.

“You’re going out again, Jinsollie? It’s almost 10 PM,” Haseul called out to her.

“I’ll be back in a bit,” Jinsol smiled back and waved her off. She got into the elevator and pressed the button to take her down to the lobby.

“Oh! Unnie, if you see the delivery man. Just tell him to buzz and I’ll meet him there!” Heejin shouted.

“Okay!” Jinsol weakly gasped, she wasn’t even sure if it was loud enough for the other girl to hear. Her head was buzzing almost, the lights flickering above didn’t help.

Just as the doors closed it seemed that one of the members had realized she wasn’t dressed to go outside.

“Wait, Unnie! You forgot your coa-”

The elevator doors closed and it began its speedy descent down to the first floor. Jinsol pressed her head against the cool metal panels and waited for it to reach its destination. Once it did, she wasted no time in walking out and striding through to get to the exit.

Jinsol pushed through, the slap of winter air against her underdressed form was harsh, but it felt better than she had before.

It had been then that Jinsol remembered she hadn’t looked at herself yet. Shivering from the biting wind, Jinsol took her phone out and opened up the camera.

As she’d suspected, the girl peering back at her was platinum blonde. She scrunched up her eyebrows and adjusted the phone. A tiny crater formed underneath her left eyebrow. The scar that separated her and this version of herself.

Jinsol put her phone down and moved a bit further from the building. This had something to do with the moon and the other two stupid ones. She just knew it.

“What do you want from me?!” Jinsol screamed.

She looked up at the sky, the clouds were covering the three orbs that had been haunting her for the past sessions of this weird dream.

There was a sound of a door slamming open and Jinsol looked down to see the _Orbital_ , no, the _LOONA_ girls dash out.

Kim Lip was the first to reach her. The girl was furious.

“First Yerim, now you. What the fuck is going on, Jinsol-Unnie?!”

“Jungeun...maybe we should move this conversation inside,” Haseul said, coming up beside the blonde, but also eyeing Jinsol worriedly.

“No, I’m sorry, but whatever _this_ ,” Kim Lip gestured between Jinsol and the air around them, “Is happening that’s been happening. It is _not_ okay.”

Jinsol didn’t even have a chance to speak before the girl continued snapping at her.

“You and Yerim have been acting weird for _weeks_ and you’ve been worrying _all_ of us. Whatever it is, you _know_ you can trust us.”

“I, I-,” Jinsol bit her lip. She didn’t know what to say. Could she even say anything? She felt like she wasn’t supposed to be here.

Yves stepped over and moved to stand on Kim Lip’s left. “You know that you can count on us no matter what, right, Sol? The twelve of us are in this together.”

Jinsol felt bad. Beyond the physical discomfort she was feeling, she felt guilty. Her eyes peered back over at the other girls. Yeojin was unable to hide her worry and while Olivia and Go Won were trying to avoid looking their way, Jinsol could see how tightly they were holding hands.

Hell, even poor Vivi was frowning and clinging onto Heejin’s arm. The latter had her arm hooked around Hyunjin’s.

Hyunjin and Jinsol locked eyes. Then the brunette looked up at the sky. Jinsol couldn’t help but follow her gaze. The clouds had cleared.

Red, Purple, and Blue.

The searing pain returned to Jinsol’s left eye. She immediately brought her hand up over it and turned away from the girls.

The synthesizer was reverberating in her head. Flashes of images popped into her mind every time she blinked.

This had happened twice already, she knew what had to be done. Grimacing and letting herself drop to one knee, Jinsol muttered the only words she could offer the girls of LOONA.

“I’m sorry.”

She closed her eyes and felt her body fall forward.

.

.

.

For once she didn’t land in water.

For once she didn’t feel that chilling cold that had permeated her bones when she closed her eyes. Maybe she was going to wake up?

The dream was finally over?

Jinsol slowly opened her eyes. The heavy feeling of disappointment sunk in as she found herself back in the void.

Except this time she couldn’t move. Her body seemed frozen, almost.

A bubble floated up in front of her and Jinsol’s eyes widened in shock. They only got bigger when she realized that the light source she was surrounded by was emanating from beneath her. Long locks of platinum blonde hair floated up around her.

Now _she_ was the girl floating in the water. That was why the girl’s sleeping face had seemed familiar.

It had been her the whole time.

It was whilst the realization dawned on her that Jinsol realized she was no longer alone in the void. Four girls were standing a bit farther ahead beside a giant glowing ribbon of some sort.

From where she was, Jinsol saw a blonde, two brunettes, and a girl with purple hair.

Since it was deathly quiet, she could just barely make out their voices.

“This is happening too soon, Jungeun. The eclipse isn’t supposed to be until next week,” the blonde said, or it looked like it was her talking because she was the one who had moved.

“We don’t know if that messed up the strip though, Sol!” One of the brunettes said.

“We also can’t be sure if it didn’t though, unnie.” The purple haired girl pointed at the lit up structure in front of them. “You heard what the other Jindori Unnie said. If we don’t put a stop to it, then it’s only going to break down.”

“She’s right. I know you two love each other, but…” The last girl spoke, Jinsol felt that there was something familiar to her voice. One she couldn’t quite place. “Your relationship is quite literally unraveling the Mobius!”

The blonde turned away from them and began to pace back and forth.

“You’re right. It _is_ extremely selfish. We have to put an end to it, Jungie.”

“But _Sol_ ,” the brunette pleaded. She approached the blonde, but the other girl stuck her hand out between them.

“It’s fine if the Yerims meet up. All they do is swap here and then. That doesn’t really affect anything, but _us_ -” the blonde sighed. It was silent for a bit before Jinsol heard a muffled sob. “We can’t risk the world just because we love each other.”

“And I am _not_ leaving you. Sol, I _love_ you. Fuck the Mobius. Fuck all the rules! Just because we didn’t meet the way we were supposed to doesn’t mean we weren’t supposed to meet at all!”

“Why are you so... _stubborn_?”

“Because I love you.”

“Aww, that’s so cute,” the other brunette said. The purple haired girl sighed and shook her head.

“Cute or not, it’s going to get us killed.”

“What’re we gonna do, Jungie?” The blonde asked and even though what Jinsol could see was mostly silhouttes of the girls, she saw the shorter brunette walk closer and wrap her arms around her in a tight embrace.

“I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out together, okay, Sol?”

The blonde continued crying while the other girl comforted her. Seeming to want to give them privacy, the other girls moved away from them and toward where Jinsol was. Not wanting them to see that she was awake and listening, Jinsol shut her eyes quickly and pretended she was in the hibernation she’d originally found herself in.

“So you said that Jinsol-Unnie from your line saw your eye?”

“Yes, but… I wouldn’t expect her to know what it means. I didn’t want her finding out like _this_ ,” the other girl said.

Now that they were closer, Jinsol could place the voice. She didn’t want to, but she was starting to put the pieces together.

Her little Yerim was in this mess. This weird ass dream that just got worse as time passed. Jinsol wanted to stop pretending to sleep, she just wanted to go home and break down to cry. This was all too real. Was she even breathing right now?

“Yerry, it’s not your fault. How could we have known that the other Sol-Unnie was warning us? We couldn’t have known that them being together would do this,” Yerim said in a hushed whisper.

“Still, we have a responsibility to my Jinsol-Unnie and your Jungeun-Unnie. They didn’t deserve to be dragged into this,” Yerim replied back.

Was the girl talking to herself? Did she dare to peek?

“That’s why we have to make sure they stop seeing each other. It’s the only way we can reverse the damage.”

“But… why would they be given Odd Eyes if they’re not supposed to use them? Why is this so messy!”

Okay, this was getting to be enough. If Yerim was going to be talking to herself, Jinsol just wanted to make sure that she, herself, wasn’t losing her mind too.

She opened her eyes for a few seconds, but couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her lips. Her eyes closed just as the two girls turned around.

There had in fact been two Yerims, the one she’d been with hours earlier and one with waved purple hair.

“It’s kind of creepy seeing her like that. Almost makes you want to… wake her up,” Yerim said softly.

“Yeah, but you know what the other Sol-Unnie said. She’s here for a reason, so it’s just best to leave it alone,” the other Yerim responded.

“Oh, how did this happen, Yer. How’d we get into this mess.” Jinsol didn’t have to look at her childhood friend’s face to picture the pout.

“The Mobius chooses its masters, Yerry, and unfortunately, it chose us… and all the variations of us in the different timelines.”

“It just doesn’t seem… fair.”

“Yeah, well, that’s life.” The other Yerim said dejectedly.

Jinsol wished she could break out of her water prison and wrap them both in a tight hug. They sounded like they needed it, but hell, she needed it too.

The two lovers in the background had seemed to calm down. At least, that’s what Jinsol figured when she heard the voice of the brunette calling the two girls.

“Yerims come here! We’ve got to discuss strats.”

Jinsol finally opened her eyes as the sounds of footsteps grew further from her position. Somehow even though she was “drowning”, she preferred this peace compared to when she’d been wandering around. Suspended in the water, she felt like nothing could hurt her.

She was finally safe.

Somehow clearer than it had been throughout this whole procession of events, the synthesizer played again in the area, the words easier to distinguish than they had been before.

Singing

in

the

Rain.

Jinsol closed her eyes again. Her body felt like it was being pinched upwards, but she felt at peace.

Until she opened them again. Then she realized how cold she was. Also, she was being aggressively shaken.

“Jinsol-unnie? Jinsol-unnie you better wake up or I’m going to call 911****”

Jinsol focused her eyes on the speaker and felt something wet land on her cheek. It was odd to see Hyunjin crying. Why _was_ she crying? She’d only just woken up from a weird dream.

“H-hyunj-jinnie,” Jinsol struggled to say, her teeth were chattering so much, she hadn’t realized she was _that_ cold.

“O-Oh? Oh thank God, I-” Hyunjin leaned back to grab something from off her bed and Jinsol took a moment to get acquainted with her surroundings.

First of all, her head was in Hyunjin’s lap, but it looked like she was back in her apartment. A basket lay strewn on the floor, its neatly folded contents were splayed on the floor. Jinsol’s eyes roamed to the sliding door. It had been closed, but she noticed that the telescope she’d been using earlier was on the floor.

It must have fallen over when she had first passed out.

“H-h-hyunjin?”

The redhead stopped trying to grab whatever it was that she was grabbing and turned to look back at her. A flurry of worried questions escaped her lips before Jinsol even had a chance to speak again. She’d never seen Hyunjin this frantic.

“What’s wrong? Does anything hurt? Do you have a concussion?”

“I’m so-sorry about the telescope,” Jinsol said dumbly. It felt so stupid now that she thought about it. Hyunjin had probably found her passed out on the floor. The telescope was probably the furthest thing from her mind.

“Wh- that doesn’t matter now. Are you feeling warmer? I plugged in the heater and put it by your legs to try to help, but-” Hyunjin frowned, licking her lips like she always did as she contemplated and turned back around to try to continue what she’d been doing before.

Jinsol watched her produce a blanket and realized that the girl had tugged her comforter off of her bed. She really was blessed with a kind and thoughtful friend.

“Hey, H-hyunjin?”

“What?”

“What color is my hair?”

The laugh that escaped Jinsol’s lips at the bewilderment on the other girl’s face earned her a soft smack.

“It’s black? Hasn’t been any other color since we met,” the other girl told her.

Jinsol reached up to tug her friend’s reddish locks and smiled. She was so absorbed in her relief that this was her Aeongie that she didn’t see how the other girl’s cheeks had gone red.

“I’m home,” Jinsol muttered to herself.

Hyunjin adjusted the blanket that she had grabbed and carefully wrapped it around Jinsol. Her eyes shone with relief as an amused smirk slid onto her lips.

“You’ve been home all night, Unnie,” she said.

_Ah, so it **had** all been a dream._ Jinsol sort of hoped she could recount the details later, reliving it to tell Hyunjin and Yerim would make for a fun story for when she was better.

“Do you want anything? Hot chocolate or coffee?” Hyunjin asked, she reached over and removed something from Jinsol’s forehead. The bloodstained cloth was tossed into a nearby trash bin. There was the sound of something being unwrapped before the other girl carefully stuck something on her forehead. “It might need stitches, but for now I just want to make sure it’s covered.”

Jinsol had no idea what the other girl was talking about, but she definitely needed something to warm her up.

“Yes, please,” Jinsol said softly and Hyunjin complied. The younger girl carefully slid Jinsol’s head from her lap and replaced it with a pillow from her bed.

“Okay, I’ll be right back, but if you need anything,” Hyunjin reached over to grab something and placed it into Jinsol’s hands. She’d given her back her phone. “Call me and I’ll rush back, okay?”

Jinsol nodded her head in agreement and watched the other girl leave the room. She pressed a finger to forehead and winced in pain. Slowly her body was starting to warm up, the heater by her feet was working fast.

Jinsol clicked her phone on, the selfie she’d taken with Hyunjin and Yerim the other day greeted her. She unlocked her phone and sighed in relief at the sight of the familiar range of apps that popped up.

A click on the twitter app, which was at the center of her screen next to instagram and line, and she revelled in the comfort of seeing the familiar terms ‘Orbital’ and ‘Lunas’. Kim Lip was a brunette and Shin Ryujin was a part of the group.

Everything was as it should be.

And yet the image of her in the pictures of the LOONA girls lingered in her mind. Her being in an idol group? It’d been an idea she had long since abandoned before going to America.

Somehow even though it wasn’t her truth, being amongst the other girls had felt like home. It was cozy in a way that didn’t make sense to her.

Jinsol sighed and locked her phone. She was scared to look outside, but she knew she had to do it. Propping herself up on her elbows, she turned her back to look at the sky. The sight she’d long gotten used to in her dream stared back at her.

She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and carefully got up. Eyes fixated on the sight above, she walked toward the sliding door almost like she was in a trance.

Jinsol slid the door open and glanced up at the sky. She could see the moon shining above.

The other red and blue orbs were still beside it and even though she’d just had a wild time, Jinsol couldn’t even get herself to pretend to be mad.

_Even though it had made her feel insane, to dream up her own galaxies… universes, or whatever that was?_ Jinsol licked her lips and fixed her glasses. It had been _kinda_ cool, although she should probably consider seeing a therapist after this.

Jinsol chuckled to herself. Somehow she’d been playing in the oceans of her mind, while Hyunjin had probably came back and found her half-dead outside. She should probably get the girl a year’s supply of bread from the bakery that she loved.

A sudden breeze swept through the area and a voice whispered in her ear making her shiver in response.

_“Running out of time_.”

Jinsol clapped her hand against her ear and whipped around. She was alone outside, or at least, she was alone in the area until she saw Hyunjin walk back into their room with two mugs in hand.

The other girl’s eyes widened in annoyance. “Seriously? You’re _outside_ again?”

Hyunjin made her way over, situated herself to her left, and handed her a mug which Jinsol took gratefully. She was blowing steam clouds to try to cool the drink a little when the other girl talked again.

“I’ve never seen the sky like this.”

Jinsol’s eyes flickered up at her friend and she saw Hyunjin staring up at the sky. Her red hair glowed brightly in the moonlight, it reminded her of how the other Hyunjin had hair as pitch black as the night.

It was then Jinsol recalled the other Hyunjin’s words and her stomach squeezed up.

_“Jinsol-unnie… you’re not our Jinsol-unnie, are you..?”_

“You might have a concussion, so we can go to the hospital if your head hurts.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know what happened, but when I got here you were passed out. I think you hit your head on the telescope,” Hyunjin said, her head turning to face Jinsol. “Either way you were bleeding and I think we should get it checked ou-”

Hyunjin paused, head tilting in slight confusion. There was an intensity to her stare that made Jinsol uncomfortable, she took a sip of her hot chocolate and nearly moaned at how warm it made her feel.

“Are you wearing colored contacts or something, Unnie?”

Jinsol locked eyes with Hyunjin. She felt her eyebrows turn upwards in confusion.

“Your left eye, it’s glowing. Like… there’s a crescent moon in it or something.”

At her words, Jinsol almost felt her mug slip from her hands. Her lips parted, brain not working as she scrambled to try to remember why that sounded familiar.

The image of Yerim’s eye glowing purple with a crescent moon jumped to mind.

_“Are you wearing some kind of glow in the dark contacts, Yerim? It’s actually pretty cool, not gonna lie,” Jinsol had said, unaware that the reaction her friend gave her would soon send her down a spiral to Inception like dreams._

“I-I, have to go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back!” Jinsol shoved her mug of hot chocolate into Hyunjin’s free hand and scurried away.

It didn’t take her long to reach the bathroom and flip the light switch on.

The first thing she noticed was that her hair was back to black and that she had bangs. Immediate relief washed over her.

She smiled to herself for a second before realizing that there was a band-aid on her forehead, right underneath her left eyebrow.

Jinsol leaned in and frowned. There were specks of dried blood still there that Hyunjin hadn’t successfully wiped up.

She carefully removed the band-aid, hissing as it caught on the ends of her eyebrow. They did say that cuts on the forehead bled the most, and the motion had irritated it so a droplet of fresh blood dripped down her nose.

But that wasn’t what caught Jinsol’s attention. It had been what she’d reflected on Yerim hours earlier.

The observation she’d made that had started it all.

Yes, maybe now she had a cut on her forehead that might scar up in the place her dream self had one, but that wasn’t what scared her most.

Jinsol couldn’t help but scream. If it wasn’t for Hyunjin sprinting into the bathroom, Jinsol knew she probably would have landed face first into the counter.

Everything had gone black shortly after, but it was the last thought that lingered in her mind that knew would land Jinsol in another trip to weirdville.

The girl staring back at her in the mirror was definitely her, but there had been a glowing blue crescent moon reflected in her left eye.

**Author's Note:**

> This has been an idea that's just been gradually forming in my head. Did not intend for the first chapter to be this long, but we will see how long the other ones are! I hope to keep a similar length for consistency. This is also my first time writing a fic for anything KPOP related so... akfasfkjafkj. 
> 
> Update 9/24: Wow, when I was playing with fonts at some point italics/bolding broke. Big yikes. Always check your works after you edit/post folks :>
> 
> Bibliography (You know your teachers never said to use Wikipedia and yet...)  
> 1) “Loona.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, April 4, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loona.
> 
> Oh! My twitter is @omygatkimchi . Listen to Total Eclipse of the Heart! (The Mobius remix is actually pretty bopping)
> 
> Have a good day! :]


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